Words words words

If Sam and Fuzzy were a daily strip, I could probably have stopped today's comic at panel five. But alas, it's a three-times-a-week strip, and it's story based... which is exactly why I started making all my strips double-sized (and sometimes longer) a few years back. I know it might not always seem that way, but I really do try to cram in as much content as I can to keep the story rolling, and to make the strips feel satisfying and worth the wait!

With a story comic like S&F, longer strips can be vital, because it often takes that longer format to really flesh out a complete though, or gag, or action sequence, or twist. But if every now and then, you wind up with a strip like today's -- one that reads like it actually could have been split into two traditional "one page" comics instead -- well, nothing wrong with that, right? It's just kind of like a two-for-one!

-Sam Logan

Long con

Only a few days into 2012, we're already creeping up on my first con appearance of the year! It's Gottacon, a gaming convention in my old home town of Victoria, BC. From February 3rd to 5th, my friends from Weregeek and I will be manning a booth and peddling our traditional assortment of comic-related paraphernalia. If you're going to be in the area, come by and say hi!

Up in the top right corner of the site, I've posted dates for a bunch of other con appearances I'll be doing in the first chunk of this year! And there are even more to come. Stay tuned!

-Sam Logan

Sam and Fuzzy Q & A: First of 2012 Edition
Got a question you want answered? Just drop me an email with "Q & A" in the subject line!

"[In last week's Q and A,] you mentioned commission work. Is that like personal commissions, or drawings for magazines and companies and stuff?" -Case

Personal commissions, mostly! I don't do a very good job of advertising it on the site, but I do take commission requests! (That gallery is actually a little bit out of date... I should update it with some more recent stuff!)

If you'd like me to draw something, Sam and Fuzzy-related or otherwise, just send me an email describing what you're after and I'd be happy to give you a quote. Commissions can't be as cheap as the quick sketches I've been selling through twitter, but they're way more polished, and more custom-tailored to whatever specific bizarre or disturbing concept your brain has come up with. (And man, sometimes they get pretty elaborate... like the Firefly and Clockwork Orange parodies that the buyers kindly let me transform into Book Club bonus desktops! )

"Is colored line-art the 'different thing' about your Dead Winter Guest Strip? I don't think I've ever seen you use it before." -Allison

Close! The difference is in the line-art, but not the colour... I've used coloured lines in a handful of other guest strips. (Although admittedly not very many!)

My Dead Winter guest strip is actually the very first comic I've drawn entirely digitally, from "pencils" to finished art, using a tablet. If you can't tell, then good, because that's my ultimate goal!

I'm still getting used to using it -- I'm much slower at inking on the tablet than I am with a brush, and I have to work hard to keep the finished drawings from looking too "stiff" -- but practice makes perfect! I don't have any real desire to switch to using the tablet for everything, but I'd love to develop it as a secondary skill. I think it'll be great for doing colour work, especially work with multi-coloured lineart. It'll also come in handy for images that I need to really rework and tweak a lot to perfect. (Like t-shirt designs, for example.)

"Some characters have changed quite a bit since their first appearance-- probably largely in part because of your style changing. Will Sam ever gain a distinct hairline? " -Mickey

Sam is one of those characters who, if I was creating him for the first time today, would probably look way different. There's a lot of things about how his head is structured, like his hair or his lack of visible ears, that I wouldn't really do anymore. But though I've tweaked his design over the years -- most substantially during his Noosehead absence -- I've always been reluctant to change it too much, lest Sam stop looking like Sam.

Not too long ago, I made this graphic of Sam's appearance, year by year, from 2002 to 2011. It's fun way to see how much an artist has improved over the years! But using Sam as an example made me wonder if his design has been stagnating a bit the last couple of years, at least compared to the rest of my character art. Then again, maybe I've just settled into what works best for him. It's hard to say. What do you all think?

(Sidenote: over the years,some of our guest artists have come up with neat, slightly less abstract redesigns of Sam's face. Angela's and Lars' are two fun examples!)

"So, it looks like NMS might have to do some assassinations at some point if they want to gain notoriety. Could these assassinations possibly require a Chekhov's gun loaded with bullets that simulate death-like conditions using a simple mix of antihistamines and common table salt?" -Sette

It could work! But at this point, I don't think Sam would even be willing to fake a murderous reputation for N-M-S. (He's kind of square that way.) Of course, that's assuming he'll have any say in the matter...

Well, that's a wrap for this week, team! Come back on Monday for more comics. Woo!

-Sam Logan